Romanian Defence Minister Announces the Purchase Of Five F-16 Aircrafts
Monitorul Apărării şi SecurităţiiBUCHAREST (MEDIAFAX) - Romania’s Defense Minister Mihai Fifor announced on Friday that Romania will purchase five F-16 aircrafts from Portugal.
“We will purchase five more F-16 aircrafts from Portugal. Mircea Dusa (secretary of state, Ed.) was recently in a visit in Portugal for this purpose. There will be four aircrafts equipped with simple command and one with double command,” Fifor stated on Friday.
He also added that British aircrafts based in the Mihail Kogalniceanu base are temporarily in charge of Romania’s air policing, as its own MIG fleet is grounded following a deadly crash at a ceremony on Friday, during which one of the fleet’s pilots lost his life. The fleet will remain grounded until a report of the incident will be made public.
Romania previously purchased six other F-16 Fighting Falcon aircrafts from Portugal, in September of 2016. The aircrafts were equipped with flight resources for more than 4,500 hours of airtime on average, with an expected lifespan of at least 20 years. Pilots require at least 200 hours of training for the aircrafts.
